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Compare Prices on MSC Poesia Canada & New England Cruises

European cruise lines not for me

Sail Date:
October 2011

Destination:
Canada & New England

Embarkation:
New York (Manhattan)

Just returned this afternoon from a 10 day New England/Canada cruise with MSC: The ship is beautiful & clean, the food was good. This was only our second cruise but the comparisons between Princess and MSC were glaring.

#1] This was a European line, each time an announcement was made it was made in 5 different languages (tedious to say the least)

#2] In ten days we (party of 4) did not speak with one staff person who had English as their first language. It was almost comical in the dining room.

#3] Breakfast in the dining room was awful and we ended up eating at the buffet each morning (Breakfast in the Princess dining room was luxurious).

#4] Upon leaving our 3rd port (Quebec) we ran into an awful storm in the North Atlantic and our Halifax stop was cancelled. Okay you can't control the weather we understood this, though very disappointed, but there was NOT one concession made for that part of our itinerary being missed. NOTHING. How about a More
complimentary glass of wine that night? They had our $$$, we were very disappointed. Due to this storm we sailed from Monday night to Friday morning with no stops and no extra activities were offered. Really?. Tedious.

#5] Cabins were nice, smaller than Princess, the pillows were awful I have stayed in Motel 8's where I've had better pillows. They were made from chunks of foam rubber stuck in a case.

#6] Embarkation for excursions were so disorganized it was a wonder anyone got to where they wanted. Poor communication. Hurry up and wait.

#9] Final embarkation in NYC was so disorganized and folks so on edge we saw two fights!!! We picked this cruise because it went round trip started in NYC ended in NYC and this meant we didn't have to fly. Sorry MSC probably will not be cruising with you again. Less